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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



WHAT FRANCE THINKS 



OF THE 



McAll Mission 



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PHILADELPHIA 

THE AMERICAN McALL ASSOCIATION 

Bureau, 1 710 Chestnut Street 
1889 






COPYRIGHT BY 

THE AMERICAN McALL ASSOCIATION 

1889 



i 



EDITOEIAL. 

The warmth of welcome which was accorded to the McAll 
Mission at its very outset, could hardly have been anticipated 
by the most confident faith. It might well have been ex- 
pected that a work so entirely at variance with existing 
religious methods should be looked upon with distrust, or at 
least with doubt, as well by the conservatism of the French 
Protestant Churches, as by the timid caution of a precarious 
government, until, by some unprecedented and dazzling 
results, it had made good its claim to public confidence. That 
this was not the case, that Protestant pastors from the first, 
extended glad hands of fraternal sympathy to Mr. McAll, 
and that the French Government, with unhoped-for candor, 
speedily recognized the true character of his work, is almost 
irrefragable testimony to the preparedness of the French 
nation for, and its felt need of, just such a work as this. 

It was from Pastor George Fish, most venerated and la- 
mented among French pastors, that Mr. McAll received the 
first word of encouragement in his newly conceived plan, 
while as yet even his nearest friends were in doubt of its 
practicability ; and it needed only that the w^ork, as it went 
on, should be brought to the notice of other pastors of the free 
and established churches, to ensure their hearty endorsement, 
and to the measure of their ability, co-operation in the work. 
The municij^al government of Paris, after subjecting the 
Mission to a searching test, early gave most hearty and prac- 
tical approval of it by openly acknowledging that in the 
districts where McAll Etunioiis were held a smaller police 
force was required, than in other 23arts of the city. 

In the year 1877, the sixth of the Mission, the great Societe 
Nationale cT Encouragement an Bien, which includes many 
distinguished representatives of political and ecclesiastical 
parties, at its anniversary gathering in the Cheque NationaL 



presented to Mr. McAU a silver medal "for devotion to 
humanity." A few sentences from the report read before the 
vast assembly by the venerable Secretary, M. Henri Arnoul, 
will show what, even at that early day, was the estimate in 
which the intelligent public held Mr. McAll's work. 

" Mr. McAll knew," says the report, " that, in the popu- 
lation of Belleville, there exist sufferings of all kinds — that 
moral degradation has its abode there, side by side with 
mental degradation and extreme poverty.' Seconded by Mrs. 
McAll, he has founded, and subsequently multiplied in Paris, 
evening meetings, the object of which is to bring light to the 
mind, and to calm the troubled heart. Wherever he has 
directed his steps, Mr. McAll has been warmly received. His 
words of sympathy have been responded to by expressions of 
gratitude. La Societe (T Encouragement an Bicn joins in the 
testimonies of affection w^hich salute the welcome of the ben- 
evolent foreigner, and offers him a medal in return for the 
good he labors to effect." 

A year later the Societe Libre d^ Lnstruction et d^ Education . 
presented to Mr. McAll a medal "for services rendered to 
popular instruction." Such testimonials as these are most 
valuable as showing how perfectly the wide scope of Mr. 
McAU's work is apprehended by the most thoughtful minds 
of France, aside from all questions of religion. They are par- 
ticularly important just at this time, when, as M. Gustave 
Monod, Jr., has recently said, " it is hard to gauge with exact- 
ness the mind of France regarding religion." France, as a 
nation, is groping in the dark for truth. Between superstition 
on the one hand and atheism on the other, she is, indeed, hard 
bestead. Mr. Monod puts the case most accurately when he 
says of the French people, " They have been accustomed to 
understand by religion much that culture and common sense 
now refuse to accept. And when they wish to part company 
with that portion of their traditional religious system, they 



do not know where to stop. They have seen little or nothing 
of worship which is warm, and sincere, and bright, without 
being superstitious. They know too little of the Bible itself. 
Past experience has left bitter memories behind it. Present 
liberty is jealous of the slightest restraint.'' 

It is evident to all intelligent Frenchmen, whether religious- 
ly inclined or not, that Mr. McAll clearly understands this 
situation of things, and that the religion which he brings to 
the people of France is remarkably adajDted to meet it. He 
has introduced a mode of worship which is "warm and 
sincere and bright," without a vestige of superstition or a 
trace of empty form or meaningless ceremonial. He has met 
ignorance with sound instruction, jealousy with fearless self- 
abandonment, bitter memories with bright and well grounded 
hopes, and thus has commended his Mission to a widespread 
sympathy and co-operation. 

This is the view of his work which is taken by the Re- 
formed Church of France. At a meeting of the provincial 
Synod of that church in Nantes — ^town ever memorable in 
French Protestant history — the following letter was addressed 

to Mr. McAll. 

"Nantes, Nov. 6, 1883. 
To the Eev. Mr. McAll. 

Dear and much respected Brother, — We have the honor to 
transmit the following resolution of the Synod of the Evangelical 
Reformed Churches of the 4th district, assembled at Nantes, Oct. 9 
and 10. 

"The Synod, on the proposition of M. de Richmond (rt?TAim^e of 
the department Charente-Inferieure), records its grateful testimony to 
and brotherly sympathy with the Eev. R. W. McAll, the respected 
founder of the Evangelistic Mission to the Working Men of France, 
a work sustained to so large an extent by the generosity of the 
Christians of Great Britain and of the United States of America. 
This testimony, unanimously voted, is but a feeble expression of the 
admiration and gratitude with which our churches regard his work. 
In our district, La Rochelle, Rochefort, Brest and Lorient have 



-y 



6 

already Reunions populaires, and we trust that soon the same privilege 
will be extended to Nantes, Eennes, and St. In azaire. 

E. Berthe, Pastor at Brest, President ; 

A. KovFiNEAU, Pastor at Nantes, Secretary. 

In the Report of the McAll Mission which was pre- 
sented to that Synod by a lay delegate, his estimate of the 
work was summed up in words like these : 

"This religious enterprise, in the midst of the laboring 
masses, is assuredly the grandest and the most blessed work 
that has been ever attempted in France. It is grand and 
it is blessed, not only in its direct results, but more es- 
pecially in the impulse which it has given to the mission- 
ary activity of French Protestantism. If its founder has 
the initiative spirit which is characteristic of his nation, 
he has also, to an unusual extent, the gift of comprehending 
exactly the special need and the peculiar genius of the 
French people. His work, unanimously adopted by all 
Evangelical France, has received an unexpected support 
even outside of our own ranks. As to its results it would 
be presumptuous to measure them. It is truly an evan- 
gelical ingathering of souls." 

Thus have all the suffrages been gathered in — individual 
pastors, government, learned and charitable bodies, and 
finally, the church. All bear unanimous testimony to the 
high appreciation in which the McAll Mission is held by 
the thoughtful men of France. There is no need to ask how 
the common people regard it. The crowded reunions, the 
oft-repeated words of affection to Mr. McAll and his 
fellow workers, the kindling eye, the warm pressure of the 
hand, the earnest inquiries after truth, the humble profes- 
sions of light received and hope obtained, all these make 
up a volume of testimony not less dear to the hearts of 
the workers than even the much prized tributes of the 
following pages. * Louise Seymour Houghton. 



LETTER FROM PASTOR EDMUND DE PRESSENSE D.D., 
SENATOR OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC. 

I am asked to say what I think of the McAll Mission. 
Nothing is easier to me, for I have had the honor of being 
associated with it since its foundation, in a proportion 
which has varied with the amount of my other occupa- 
tions. Before going back into political life I was able to 
give one evening of every week to this Mission, and I 
have spoken in its various halls in all quarters of Paris. 
I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude to the venerated 
brother who has taken the initiative of this apostolate 
among the people, carried on, now in concert halls, where 
large crowds are gathered for the first time, and again in 
groups w^hich have been slowdy formed, and which, with 
their Sunday-schools and their Societes fraternelles, have 
become tru3 centres of an established w^ork. K^o doubt all 
the statistics of the work are well known, and I need not 
recapitulate them. I wish only to affirm from experience 
that w^henever the McAll Mission announces a meeting to 
be held or a new Salle to be opened, it opens a large 
door to the Gospel, outside of our ecclesiastical institutions. 
At the same time it serves our churches, in a way pecu- 
liarly its own, offi3ring to both pastors and people the 
broadest and most beautiful form of evangelical alliance. 

I can moreover affirm that this Parisian population, 
which may well be deemed infidel, judging by some 
manifestations of its Clubs, or by the language of its 
municipal councillors, who indulge in a saturnalia of 
atheism, is, after all, rather ignorant of, than averse to, 
the Gospel, knowing it only under the form of ultramon- 
tane Catholicism, which is hostile to all forms of liberty. 

This explains how it is that these people are in general 
attentive and favorable when the Gospel is directly and 
broadly proclaimed, even though it lack the seasoning of 



controversy. I cannot, therefore, too strongly recommend to 
the sympathy of all Christians a work at once so timely 
and so blessed. 

E. DE Pbessense D.D., Senator. 



LETTER FROM PROFESSOR ST. HILAIRE. 

To the Rev. Mr. McAll. 

Paris, December, 1885. 

Dear and Honored Brother, — Amidst the ominous 
political upheavings which fill so large a space in the 
history of our day, associated with the commercial crisis 
and the sufferings of the laborious classes coming in its 
train, a fear came over me which I will not conceal. 
Nearly fifteen years have elapsed since God permitted you 
to found this excellent work, which carries in it the future 
and the salvation of France for this world and the next. 
Now, attached as I have been to your Mission from its 
commencement, I have always been equally surprised and 
happy to remark in your valued meetings the number of 
men often surpassing that of the women. My fear, then, 
which you will readily comprehend, was that, attracted by 
the political gatherings which so often compete with yours, 
the male part of your auditory might by degrees desert 
your salles, and lay down the banner of Jesus Christ in 
order to enrol themselves under that of the anarchists. 
Impressed with this thought, I commenced something like 
an investigation, and here is the result, which I rejoice 
to lay before you : — 

Notwithstanding the open war declared against God, the 
clergy, and every species of worship as well as belief, 
never since their foundation have your meetings been 
frequented by so large a number of men, above all, in the 
centre of Paris. They — the two recently opened halls, one 



on the Boulevard de Sebastopol replacing that of Kue de 
Eivoli, the other on the Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, — are 
filled, every evening, by 250 to 300 hearers, among whom 
the men are in a large majority. In the former, they 
belong for the most part to the laboring class; in the 
other, to all classes of society, especially to those of clerks 
and employes. 

At Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, M. Saillens, the popular 
orator par excellence, gives, each fortnight, after the gen- 
eral meeting, a consecutive explanation of the Bible, much 
prized. Some weeks ago an English friend who attended 
one of these evenings observed wdth equal surprise and 
joy, that after the general meeting, 200 men at least 
remained for the Bible study: which, however, was con- 
ducted by M. Saillens in a manner altogether simple 
and familiar, without attempting eloquence, and without 
even the hymns, w^hich the people so much delight in. 
The audience remained in serious attention to the close 
of the prayer which ended the service. 

A fact even yet more striking is that, on the two 
Sundays of last December set apart for the elections of 
the new Chamber of Deputies, your meetings of the after- 
noon as vrell as those of the evening, were frequented by a 
numerous public, and that the most perfect calm did not 
cease to reign there. Finally, in the suburbs of Paris, 
where the anarchists are ever recruiting their ranks, the 
regular attendance of w^orkingmen increases rather than 
diminishes, and it is perhaps in the most miserable dis- 
tricts of our rich city that your work has aAvakened the 
warmest sympathy. 

Is there not in this, I ask, a powerful encouragement 
and a restless revelation of the spirit, which, underneath 
the surface, animates our w^orking population, always so 
favorable to your work, and, which, in its poverty and 



10 

isolation, bears toward you an intense gratitude for having 
taken it into your thought ? It is well known that in this 
world of sadness evil comes to the front and good often con- 
ceals itself. But, side by side with these anarchist gatherings, 
popular aB they claim to be, and aiming to overthrow all the 
bases on which society reposes, is it not consoling for the 
Christian and for the citizen to see that this people, so much 
spoken against, remains faithful to its better instincts, and that 
respect for the Divine law still teaches respect for human law ? 

Persevere then, dear brother, in this good work which God 
has so visibly blessed. You have with you the popular masses 
whence alone durable success can be derived. What though 
the waves of impurity toss and roar on the surface, to all tnese 
evil passions which surge around us, oppose, never wearied, 
this rampart which during nineteen centuries has alone pre- 
served social order against every menace, the Gospel, that is, 
God's very Word, which has descended with His Son on our 
poor earth, and lives there after Him, to associate man with 
the mighty work which a God alone could commence, and 
which He alone can complete. 

Receive, dear and honored brother, for your Mission and for 
yourself, the most cordial good wishes of a former fellow- 
laborer, whose only wish is that he could work with you still. 

RossEEUw St. Hilaire, 

Member of the Institute of France. 

My letter is short enough to allow me a postscript. Let me 
say, in addition, to your readers how much I have been moved 
on seeing in your drawing-room this carpet which, with the 
New Year, one of the poorest quarters of our capital, your 
hearers of Boulevard Barbes, have just sent you as a touching 
mark of their sympathy. It is delightful, is it not, dear 
brother, to labor for a population thus sensible to the good one 
seeks to do for it, and ready to give such manifestations of its 
gratefiil recognition ? 



11 



LETTEK FEOM EEV. THEODOEE MONOD. 

To Mr. Eeuben Saillens. 

Paris, September 15th, 1886. 

My Dear Friend, — You desire me to tell the Christian 
public of America, " What France thinks of the McAll 
Mission'' The question is a large one. Let us proceed 
to subdivide it. 

Among the thirty-eight millions who constitute France, 
we must distinguish : 

(A) The bulk of the people, who know nothing, and 
care less about the McAll Mission or any other. Of these 
we have of course, nothing to say, except that it is in- 
cumbent upon us so to extend the work, in Paris and in 
the provinces, that it may be brought into contact with 
an increasing number of people. 

(B) Among those who have some acquaintance with the 
Mission, we may name particularly : 

1. The careless, who are more or less attracted by this 
new style of Conference Pojndaire. Its dazzling inscrip- 
tion written in gas-jets, illuminated by its own glory, like 
the sun in the heavens, or the Spirit of God in the soul, 
arrests their attention ; a kindly voice invites them to 
cross the threshold; a printed fly-leaf, setting forth the 
main object of the work, is put into their hand by 
the patient distributor at the door, who replies to inquiries, 
answers cavils, bears insult, it may be, or mockery. 

Xor is the curiosity of these people disappointed or 
abated, when they step inside of the bright, cheerful hall, 
there to be courteously greeted by a lady who shows 
them to a seat, furnishes them with a hymn-book, and 
even with an illustrated paper to fill up their time 
until the meeting actually begins. 

Then they are surprised, entertained, and very soon 
interested, by the lovely songs, the popular addresses, the 



12 

earnest speakers, all of them diversified in tone and 
temper, in age, in accent, in nationality, yet all united 
in one testimony to the crucified and risen Saviour. 
The meeting closes "before they know it," with a cordial 
invitation to " Come again." All these combine to 
attract and to retain the careless. By-and-by their atten- 
tion is aroused, their minds are enlightened, their con- 
sciences are awakened, their hearts are touched, aye, and 
in many instances are turned to the Lord. Peace enters 
the soul and the house, and a new member, it may be, 
is added to one or another of our churches. I received 
several of such into my own church, at our last com- 
munion season. 

They think that the McAU Mission is a great blessing. 

2. The infidel, or sceptical, of whom the name is 
Legion. Some of these also are brought to the truth, 
and of those who are not, the least that can be said is 
that they learn to respect it. "ISTo humbug" there, they 
soon ascertain. No interested motive, no formal routine, 
no end pursued except what the workers consider to be 
the welfare of their fellow-men. Therefore the infidels 
learn to esteem these workers and their work, and often- 
times to feel kindly toward them, even though they 
should cease to attend the meetings, declaring that they 
" know all about it." 

Those however whose atheism is determined and mili- 
tant, are strongly opposed to the Mission, which they see 
is more likely to exert a durable religious influence 
upon the people than do the churches, which the masses 
have largely ceased to attend. 

3. The honafide Roman Catholics. Not a few of our 
very best hearers and converts belong to that class. 
They rejoice to hear and to learn by experience that 
one may break the yoke of bondage to men and the 



13 

traditions of men, and they embrace all the more faith- 
fully the religion of Christ. But for the very reason 
that we show them this, and also that we reach much 
further into the non-church-going j^opulation than their 
parochial organizations do, the out and out Komanists 
agree with the infidels in their opposition to the work. 

4. Finally, what do the Protestants, that is to say, the 
evangelical Protestants, think of the Mission ? 

I have no doubt that I am speaking in their name 
when I reply. They think that the McAll Mission is 
spreading the knowledge and power of salvation effect- 
ually in France, in a way Avell adapted to the charac- 
ter of our people. 

They also think that it is doing much good to our- 
selves. It has shown us how to reach our own popula- 
tion. It has opened a new field of labor to our minis- 
ters, and more especially, to our laymen. It has made us 
all more practical, more simple, more popular, more hope- 
ful; it has welded us together in love and labor, it has 
made our faith known and respected throughout the coun- 
try ; it has furnished an opportunity of bearing the glad 
tidings of Salvation to thousands who would not have 
cared to attend a church. There is a vast number who 
will not enter a church, because, as one of them said to 
me, " I am no believer, and do not want to play the 
hypocrite, therefore I do not go to church. Whereas, to 
enter one of your halls is not to profess to be religious." 

The Protestants, therefore, think that the McAll Mis- 
sion is an unalloyed good, a plant that the Heavenly 
Father has planted, and that is barely beginning (let this 
be kept in view) to yield its appropriate fruit. We 
think that we can never be grateful enough to God, to 
his servants, Mr. and Mrs. McAll, and to their faithful 
band of helpers, at home and abroad. We think that 



14 

their work is emphatically the right thing in the right 
place and at the right time. (At the right time, I say, 
because, on one hand, of the deplorable moral condition 
of our people, and on the other hand, of the full relig- 
ious liberty we are enjoying at the present hour.) 

We think, in short, that if such a work as the McAll 
Mission did not exist, it should be set on foot without 
delay. 

Ever yours faithfully, in the Lord's grace and service, 

Th. Monod. 



LETTER FROM PASTOR BERSIER. 

Paris, 216 Boulevard Pereire, October 28tli, 1886. 

The remarkable success of Mr. McAll's Popular Mission 
might, in its early days, have been set down to that in- 
stinct of curiosity which impels Parisians to interest them- 
selves in everything new. But every succeeding year 
shows how superficial would have been such a judgment. 

At the present time nothing is more marked than the 
assiduity of the attendants at many of the Mission halls, 
their devout and serious expression of countenance, the 
respectful attention with which they listen to the reading 
and exposition of the Scriptures, and the fervor with which 
they sing the hymns ; and the same is true in many of 
our large cities. 

This result is the more noticable because the common 
people, especially working men, are falling more and more 
into the habit of deserting church or temple, while at 
the same time an incessant and truly appalling propa- 
ganda of infidelity is being carried on among them, to 
such an extent that their future seems well-nigh des- 
perate. With what joy and gratitude, therefore, do we 



15 

see Catholic working men in all quarters of Paris coming 
regularly to our popular reunions and openly professing 
their new found faith! These are true victories gained 
in the face of formidable prejudices. Besides these indi- 
vidual conversions, to a great number of which we can 
all bear witness, there is this further important result, 
that the Gospel has gained a favorable hearing in circles 
where atheism and radicalism are sparing no pains to 
hold it up to odium and ridicule. 

I am therefore happy to add my testimony as a French 
pastor to that of my honorable colleagues, in expressing 
to Sir. McAU and his co-laborers my profound gratitude 
for the manifest good which they have already accom- 
plished, and also for the good seed hidden from view, 
which will be made manifest at the last day. The 
Protestants of France ai^e coming more and more to re- 
cognize the benefits of this work, and they would sustain 
it more generously if they were not themselves forced to 
make greater sacrifices than ever to make good the loss of 
those official subsidies which the state is gradually withdraw- 
ing from their churches as it has already withdrawn them 
from their schools. So much the more urgent is our 
need of the help of our foreign brethren in the evan- 
gelization of our vast country. 

EuG. Bersier, 

Pastor of the Reformed Church of Paris, 



FIEST IMPEESSIOXS OF A XEW COLLEAGUE. 

9th January, 1886. 
My Dear Mr. McAll, — As I am only, not a young, 
but a new recruit, on your staff, will you kindly excuse 
me from any considerable contribution to the Report? I 



16 

must fight a little longer before I can embrace and de- 
scribe the extent, as well as the depth of the campaign 
you are waging in my dear country, but I am qualified 
to express two feelings which your great work amongst us 
will intensify more and more in every Christian heart here 
— gratitude and hope. 

I remember meeting you and Mrs. McAll at Pastor 
Theodore Monod's house, when you contemplated the 
opening of a Salle de conferences populaires at Belleville. 

We admired your zeal and attenijDted to share your 
enthusiasm, but we dared not hope that our ouvriers 
would be accessible to the good message of the Gospel; 
we dreaded numberless difificulties and obstacles, some of 
which were indeed unavoidable, but we thought they 
would be unconquerable. And now, that solitary hall, 
so modest, located in the depth of Belleville, rue Julien- 
Lacroix, has become in Paris and suburbs, thirty-six. It 
has radiated through the provinces, it has even overlept 
the Mediterranean; you have a Mission at Algiers, and 
at this very moment, we open a salle at Tunis; altogether 
the Mission has one hundred Stations, with a budget of 
340,000 francs! What a work! It has almost the im- 
portance of one of our state departments. 

I was made aware of this the very moment I became 
secretary of the Mission. Overtasked with a year's cease- 
less labor, you had to go to dear old England and Scot- 
land to get a little rest. I sat in your chair, but it was 
far from being a sinecure, notwithstanding the constant 
and invaluable help of the Rev. H. Noel. 

What an amount of correspondence ! the list of speakers 
to prepare, the gaps to fill up, the numerous donations 
(pleasant task, certainly) to be acknowledged, a personnel 
of at least 150 collahorateurs to direct ! 

But I was soon reassured when I found what able and 



17 

devoted lieutenants you have in each of those depart- 
ments, and what a spirit of entrain and hon accord ani- 
mates the whole body of workers. The secret of this is 
certainly in their love for the Lord's kingdom, and in 
the prayer meeting, which every week gathers together 
the members of the Mission. I do feel that our French 
churches, and our dear and so zealous societies of evan- 
gelization, will obtain blessings and fruits of their mission- 
ary efforts, in proportion as they have recourse to that 
great motive power — prayer. 

When I studied closer the Mission organization, I was 
struck with the material order that prevails in the least 
details, the office, with its cash-books and its different 
papers, so admirably kept in order by Mr. Soltau; the 
Bible and book-store, under the intelligent direction of 
Mdlle. Louise Monod, and so w^ell supjDlied with all sorts 
of good publications, intended to feed our numerous libra- 
ries ; the comfort of the halls, where the painting, arrange- 
ments, inscriptions, &c., are so well calculated to make 
the hearers feel pleasant and earnest at the same time ; 
the kind and attentive ladies giving an opened hymn- 
book and showing a seat to every new comer; singing so 
lively and so well adapted to our popular meetings, every- 
thing contributes to the prosperity and fruitfulness of the 
work. 

I may as well here confess two prejudices under which 
I labored before I was myself in the Mission. 

I thought that almost every speaker was frais debargue 
from England and could scarcely speak our language; 
and secondly, that the orateurs were sent au hasard to 
the Salles, any man going anywhere, provided some one 
went. On the contrary, if I look on this very week's 
tableau, I find for Paris, that out of 117 addresses that 
will be delivered in the Salles, ninety-two will be by 



18 

French speakers, and twenty-five by English friends, and 
amongst the latter I find Mr. McAll, Mr. Greig, Mr. 
Brown, Mr. Anderson, whose accent is almost as good as 
if they were born on the banks of the Seine. 

As to the appointment of speakers, I had no idea of 
the adaptation you so carefully study, placing as much as 
possible the right man in the right place. I notice, with 
great pleasure, that almost without exception, the pastors 
of our evangelical churches in Paris collaborate in the 
Mission. Every night, on an average, two or three of 
them address the people in the Salles. 

In that growing co-operation, I see in the future tliat 
which is so eminently desirable for the Mission and for the 
churches, a closer and closer connection between them, 
and a stream of new blood running from the new elements 
into the older body for the benefit of both. 

I think that point has a capital importance, and I 
know you rejoice in everything that tends to its realiza- 
tion. Many, already, who have been brought to Christ 
in the Salles, have joined one or other of our churches. 

In numerous instances, the pastors of the congregations 
are, at the same time, at the head of the Mission work 
there, both the religious services and the reunions popu- 
laires are held in the chapel; elsewhere both take place 
in our halls. It is evident that, in that ordre d'idees, one 
of the most important agencies in the Mission is found in 
the Sunday and Thursday schools connected with it. Who 
could but be deeply moved, for instance, in seeing, the 
other evening, those 400 children gathered in your St 
Antoine hall, and celebrating joyfully the Arbre de Noelf 
What attention ! What joy ! How beautifully they re- 
cited together the 2nd chapter of Luke, and the 53rd of 
Isaiah. What abundant sheaves will be gathered in that 
field ! Here again God's hand is visible in giving you 



19 

such a superintendent as the one you possess for that 
branch of the Mission. 

But it is quite time I should close these remarks. Our 
friends always wish to have facts ; they will find them in 
the report ; they will read our statistics, they will be satis- 
fied that their w^ork (it is theirs!) is carried on economi- 
cally, prayerfully, and unflinchingly, and they Avill act 
according to the old Huguenot motto — Nous Maintiendrons, 

Th. Lorriaux. 



THE MISSION AN INSPIEATION OF COUKAGE TO 
FEENCH PKOTESTANTS. 

By M. Eugene EicYEiLiiArD, Editor of Le Signal, 

Of all the missionary enterprises of the 19th century 
which, more than any other, may be called the century of 
Missions, there is perhaps none which will have done more 
for the advancement of Christ's kingdom upon earth than 
that of Mr. McAll. For it is not only by its external re- 
sults as seen in its thirty-three Stations in and around 
Paris, and the forty-six others opened in the princijDal 
towns in the provinces, that this w^ork is to be judged. 
However glorious these results may be, especially when one 
remembers the humble beginnings of the Mission in a small 
shop in the Faubourg of Belleville, there is one more 
glorious still, w^hich will henceforth be inseparable from the 
person and the work of Mr. McAll: it is to have revealed 
to our Protestant Christians of France — who scarcely dared 
to preach the Gospel outside their churches, and who 
would have been very specially afraid to present it in its 
simplicity to so sceptical and critical a population as our 
Parisian workmen — the intrinsic force and sovereign auth- 
ority of this Gospel announced to crowds, in its original 



20 

purity and simplicity. By the success of Mr. and Mrs. 
McAll, undertaking this work of preaching to the people 
under the most unfavorable conditions, proof has been 
given that the message of Jesus Christ is for all the habit- 
able world — for the mocking and quick-witted Parisian, as 
well as for the serious-minded Anglo-Saxon and the mysti- 
cal German. Proof has been given that the language of 
the Sermon on the Mount, and of the Acts of the Apostles, 
answers to the same wants of the heart in the capital of 
elegant luxury and of refined civilization as in the rude 
huts of Kafirs or Basutos. French Christians took courage 
at this demonstration, and it is since then that the idea of 
a France becoming, by the grace of God, Christian accord- 
ing to the Gospel, and thus altering, to the advantage of 
Protestantism, the ecclesiastical and religious centre of the 
world; it is since then, we say, that this idea has laid 
hold of many minds, and has seemed less chimerical even 
to those who do not yet share it. Whatever, from a re- 
ligious point of view, are to be the future destinies of 
France, one thing, at least, will remain from this vigorous 
impulse which Mr. McAU has communicated to all our 
French Protestantism — this something, which is immense, 
and which eternity will appreciate better than the present; 
we can see it in the thousands of souls who lived formerly 
without faith, without hope, without love, and to whom the 
gracious and glorious message of the Gospel communicated 
a new life and joys of infinite sweetness; we can see it in 
these thousands of working-men's families, where peace, 
happiness, the welfare of the children, attendance* at divine 
worship, and fireside comfort have taken the place of 
quarrels and profane language, love of low company or of 
the public-house; these are thousands of living witnesses 
raised up for the glory of God's only Son, and who now 
feel the need of bringing others to these fountains of living 



21 

waters, where they have themselves drunk, quenching their 
thirst with long draughts. 

Yes! Paris and France have cause indeed to bless God 
that He, in His own time, just after those fearful reverses 
in which we might have seen the Father's hand smiting 
heavily His children, too long ungrateful and rebellious, 
should have raised up and brought among us this dear 
Mr. McAll, who, without resisting an instant the call 
which he felt came from heaven, left, like Abraham, 
his country, his people, and his father's house, and came 
to this land where God was showing him an abundant 
posterity of spiritual children conquerors over sin and 
death. The tiny fire, which he lit twelve years ago in 
an obscure corner of Paris, has become, under the breath 
of the Holy Spirit, a vast conflagration. May it con- 
tinue to spread from point to point, till it covers the 
whole earth, the Old World as well as the New, and 
may that prophecy of Daniel (vii. 10) be fulfilled : " A 
fiery stream issued and came forth from before the An- 
cient of Days, thousand thousands ministered unto him, 
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him." 



HOW THE LADIES OF THE FEENCH PEOTESTANT 
CHUECHES EEGAED THE McALL MISSION. 

Our Parisian friends have just given us a most grati- 
fying proof of Christian afiection and interest in our en- 
terprise. 

Without any suggestion on our part, a proposal was 
made, early in the year, to organize a useful and fancy 
Sale on behalf of the Mission. A large number of ladies, 
representing the evangelical French Protestants of all 
denominations, warmly responded to the appeal, and all 



22 

was organized and carried out by them, so as not to cost 
us one moment's time or anxiety. A singularly touching 
circumstance occurred at the time of issuing the appeal. 
On the day in which it was prejDared for signature, 
Madam St. Hilaire, wife of our venerable friend, Professor 
St. Hilaire, was extremely ill. She believed it to be the 
last day of her life. Making a great effort, she begged 
that the j^^P^i* might be brought quickly to her house, 
" for," she said, " I desire to sign it, if it should be the 
last act of my life, to show my love to the dear Mis- 
sion." Our friend was spared for some weeks, but ere 
the Sale took place, had gone to be with her Saviour. 

The Sale was held 22nd and 23rd lebruary, in a 
beautiful hall (Salle Kriegelstein) in the centre of Paris. 
It presented a brilliant and animating spectacle. Some 
of the objects offered for sale possessed special interest. 
One was an elegant carpet, fabricated by the hands of 
ladies at Montpellier, the materials of which had cost 
over 200 francs. Very many useful articles were the 
work of extremely poor women, attendants of the Mission 
and of Madame Dalencourt's meetings. Our indefatig- 
able friend, Madame Keller, presided at a stall abund- 
antly supplied with provisions, fruits, flowers, &c., from 
the south of France and Switzerland. Xearly every part 
of France was represented. Among ladies who served 
were the venerable Madame Andre -AValther, the Countess 
de Castri-es, &c. The French pastors' wives and families 
were distinguished by their assiduity. One stall also 
was furnished by the British Embassy Church. There 
was a croAvded attendance, and the receipts amounted to 
26,000, francs (£1,040). 

On visiting the Sale, we ourselves felt what could not 
be expressed. The affectionate interest manifested on 
©very hand went to our heart. We seemed to be in 



23 

the midst of a large family circle, drawn around us by 
sympathy with our effort to lead the people of our 
adopted country to Christ. After our Mission of eleven 
years and a half we felt that it had ceased to be for 
us a land of strangers. We came away fired with new 
zeal for the sacred enterprize. 

R. W. McAll. 



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